[SaxxonWoods]

According to my understanding of literal Bible belief, Adam and Eve were the first and only two people on Earth. They had two sons, Cain and Abel.

So how could Cain go to some other land and find a woman old enough to marry? That indicates there was another colony nearby.

Neadenthals are certainly possible, but that seems to foul up the Bible story as it has always been presented.

[ShadowAce]

...Adam and Eve were the first and only two people on Earth. They had two sons, Cain and Abel.

Not entirely correct.

Don;t forget Seth. Also, Scripture mentions that Adam had other sons and daughters before he died at the age of 930. It is possible that Cain took a sister as wife.

[PapaBear3625]

According to my understanding of literal Bible belief, Adam and Eve were the first and only two people on Earth. They had two sons, Cain and Abel. So how could Cain go to some other land and find a woman old enough to marry? That indicates there was another colony nearby.

I once read a rabbi's explanation of it as being that Adam was the first "spiritually aware" man -- that there were men and women created in Genesis 1:26-30 who were the regular men and women, and that Adam and Eve of Genesis 2 were separate from the other men and women, being spiritually aware and thus the first true people. Cain went to live with these earlier people.

[LurkingSince'98]

I meant it in the sense that Neanderthals were not fully human, ie not chosen by God to be fully human, free will, capable of attaining heaven - not unlike an advanced chimpanzee.

Lurking’